As if global warming proponents don't have enough to worry about already, with Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., Fox News and the Heartland Institute, now Mother Nature has thrown them yet another curve: July 2009 was officially the coldest July on record in six U.S. states, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Specifically, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Not one of the coldest, mind you, but the absolute, rock-bottom, chilliest on record. Records go back to 1895. Meanwhile, four others – Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri and Kentucky — had their 2nd-coldest July ever recorded.

 

Name: Guo Zhengpei (郭正培)
Gender: Male
Age: 48
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Deputy Secretary of the Hongxin Administrative District, Town of Xinhe, Hanchuan City, Hubei Province
Date of Death: April 25, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 18, 2004
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shayang Forced Labor Camp (沙洋劳教所)
City: Hanchuan
Province: Hubei
Persecution Keywords: Sleep Deprivation, Forced Labor, Forced Injections, Beatings, Imprisonment, Torture

(Clearwisdom.net) (By a correspondent from Hubei Province) Mr. Guo Zhengpei, a Falun Gong practitioner from Hanchuan City, Hubei Province, was subjected to torture on many occasions before dying on April 25, 2009.

On December 10, 1999, Mr. Guo was arrested at the Hongxin Administration District, and then detained at the Hanchuan City First Detention Center for six months. Hu Yaoqing and Zhou Zhifa, officers from the Xinhe Police Station, illegally searched Mr. Guo's house on the day he was arrested. His family was repeatedly harassed in the middle of the night by police officers.

In 2000, Mr. Guo's managers, Gao Yingxue and He Bolin, and Li Shuanghe, former director of the Xinhe Police Station, put Mr. Guo under house arrest. After suffering mistreatment, harassment, and mental torture Mr. Guo went on a trip to appeal, but he was intercepted. He and another practitioner, Ms. Ding Jimei were repeatedly slapped, whipped with leather belts, kicked, and beaten by Gao Yingxue, Chen Xiangshong, and other officers in the Xinhe Police Station. They bled from the nose and mouth as a result of the police violence.

Mr. Guo was sentenced to three-years in prison and was fired from his public position. He was jailed at the Fanjiatai Prison in Shayang County. There, guards forced him to move bricks from a hot brick kiln without protection. His hands were burned and covered with blood blisters. A guard once took Mr. Guo to an empty room and then ordered five or six prisoners to beat him.

Xia Wei and other officers from the Hanchuan City Police Department transferred Mr. Guo back to a prison in Hanchuan City. A witness of the transfer said that Mr. Guo's body was full of scars and bruises. Mr. Guo has had no feeling in his knees and lower legs ever since.

On February 18, 2004, Li Sushan and other police officers arrested Mr. Guo while he was working at the Xinhe Dali Food Factory. Mr. Guo was later sentenced to one-year of forced labor. He was subjected to brutal mistreatment at the Shayang Forced Labor Camp. Guards deprived him of sleep for four days and nights, beat him, kicked him as soon as he closed his eyes, and forced him to stand motionless under the hot sun for many hours. Mr. Guo and imprisoned practitioners were forced to sit on small benches for half-a-day without body movement. As a result, almost all of them had split cuts on their buttocks.

Mr. Guo and imprisoned practitioners were used as slave laborers. In winter, guards Wei Peng and Zhu Bangqing ordered inmates Wei Zhixiang, Li Jianxiong, Xia, and others to supervise the practitioners peeling plants which irritated their eyes. Although he had a fever, Mr. Guo was forced to work until he coughed, spit blood, and was too weak to get out of bed. He was taken to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, pleurisy, fluid in the lungs, and injected with unknown medicine.

To shirk their responsibilities, the labor camp administrators released Mr. Guo for health reasons after a couple of days. Mr. Guo looked skeleton-thin when his family saw him. He continued getting thinner and thinner and never recovered. He finally died on April 25, 2009.

Before the persecution, Mr. Guo Zhengpei was the deputy secretary of the Hongxin Administrative District, Xinhe Town (it has been renamed to Hanchuan City Economic Development Zone), Hanchuan City, Hubei Province. He used to have multiple diseases, including cholecystitus, prostatitis, liver cirrhosis, and could not keep normal working hours. His diseases vanished after he started practicing Falun Dafa in 1996, and began following the principles of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. He rejected corruption, and donated money to build a road for the district.

 

Wikipedia

 

 

By Minghui reporter Li Huirong

(Clearwisdom.net) Qiu Mingwei, a former journalist for the Chinese communist regime's propaganda newspaper, The People's Daily, who fled to Hong Kong last month, announced in a press conference on August 23 that he quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations, making him the first working employee of an organization affiliated with the regime's Central Propaganda Department to quit the CCP using his real name.

Qiu Mingwei at the press conference

Mr. Qiu worked as the Deputy Chief of the "People's Forum" of People's Daily, the main mouthpiece of the CCP. He traveled to Hong Kong in late June to attend the International Federation of Journalists' conference, and during his stay he was photographed participating in Hong Kong's July 1 march, an annual rally supporting democracy and human rights. He fled the mainland to Hong Kong on July 30.

Many media turned out at the press conference when Mr. Qiu made his public announcement, "While working for People's Daily, I had already used the platform in the office to visit the Epoch Times' Quit the CCP Service Center website and I had already quit the CCP once. After coming to Hong Kong, I quit again, online. Today, I'm making a public announcement to sever all ties with the CCP, including the Young Pioneers, the Youth League, and the Party."

"I have been working for People's Daily for many years. Even I could not find any improvement in human rights in China. They did not keep their promises, and the human rights condition is getting worse." Qiu stated that he faced a series of retaliations after returning to Beijing. His boss told him that the Daily was going to revoke his journalist license and fire him. His phone was tapped and his apartment was searched by authorities. He was not free to move around and was charged with the crime of collaborating with the enemy. In addition, he was forced to sign his name on a piece of blank paper, to which anyone can add any statements later and use as an official declaration when faced with questions from the international community.

Qiu said that someone from higher-up told him that the political persecution against him happened because he had done some investigations on the persecution of Falun Gong and helped some Falun Gong practitioners. "He said, 'I had conducted some negative investigations that were related to land embezzlement, Falun Gong, and local party officials' corruption.' I was also told that these problems were not important. However, my investigation of Falun Gong was not a positive thing for me."

Qiu said that he later realized, "It's absolutely not just because I joined the Hong Kong July 1 march. It's absolutely not just because I attended those meetings in Hong Kong or because I met with some dissidents. It's because I dared to help Falun Gong practitioners. That's why this is happening today. They are trying to settle new and old scores with me."

Mr. Qiu said that he had personally witnessed the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. He once saw a woman being chased by an official who intercepted appellants, and the woman was drowned after falling into a moat. He said, "I was not the only one who saw it. Many appellants saw it happen. We were all shocked when we saw it. I asked the other appellants why they were so cruel to an appellant. An appellant told me that the woman was a Falun Gong practitioner."

Mr. Qiu learned that many Falun Gong practitioners who had gone to appeal [in Beijing] led a miserable life, being destitute and homeless. He deeply sympathized with them and helped [some practitioners] in their lives. He also reported the problem to his superior. But his superior clearly told Mr. Qiu that he would certainly not touch the Falun Gong issue. Even if he himself touched it, he was afraid that he would also be finished.

Mr. Qiu recalled another incident. Once he was warned for stopping a police officer from violently beating a Falun Gong practitioner, "Don't get entangled in it any more, otherwise you will lose your job." The police officer asked him, "Don't you believe? If you stand up for Falun Gong, you will be regarded as a backer of Falun Gong. You will be arrested. Do you know how many years you will be imprisoned?"

Mr. Qiu revealed the CCP's extensive penetration in overseas countries, "The CCP sent out culture spies to penetrate overseas Chinese media and websites, attacking and framing dissidents, including media workers, like us in China, who promote democracy movements. They would intentionally or unintentionally, make things blurry so that the chief persecutor would escape the attention of the international media, turning himself from a murderer into an innocent man, deceiving the international media and community. Such an act is no different from the terrorist acts perpetrated in the early Cultural Revolution."

Since he fled to Hong Kong, Mr. Qiu's residence in Beijing has been searched, and he is not safe in Hong Kong, either. He disclosed that his thumb drives were stolen in his hotel twice, and he was followed the day before.

Being asked if he was worried about his family's safety, he said, "I hope that my family will be safe, but I can clearly tell you, my wife is receiving treatment with psychiatric drugs proscribed by a psychiatric hospital. You can imagine what situation my family is facing. Then, all this is caused by the CCP, and the CCP will be held accountable if my family members meet with any danger in future."

But Mr. Qiu stressed that he won't succumb to the CCP's dictatorship, and he called upon the international community to provide assistance with the safety of his family.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

By Anastasia Stephens

A new survey has revealed that after sugar, carbohydrates such as potatoes are one of the first things that those keeping an eye on their weight cut out.  Yet far from being the devil's food, a cooked new potato has only 26 calories and is packed with nutrients. Here we reveal the surprising health benefits of the humble spud.

A key to lasting weight loss is eating foods that make you feel full for longer, says Dr Jacquie Lavin, a weight-loss doctor for Slimming World.

'You should eat complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, rather than simple carbohydrates like sugar or biscuits which give a short energy boost followed by hunger pangs,' she says. 'In this way, potatoes can help you reduce binge-eating.'

According to a study in the British Journal of Nutrition, potatoes are wrongly classified as high on the Glycemic Index, which ranks carbohydrates from one to 100 according to how quickly they are broken down during digestion into basic glucose. Pure glucose scores 100. The lower the rank, the longer it takes for the food to be absorbed, and the longer we feel satiated after eating it.

This is why a diet of low GI foods is recommended to those wanting to lose weight.

However, the research revealed that the GI of potatoes varies depending on the type, where it is grown and the preparation methods.

For example, the GI may be medium to low when potatoes are eaten cooled, rather than hot, and when boiled and consumed whole, rather than mashed.

Potatoes provide the body with an essential source of fuel and energy, which you need even when dieting. As a rich carbohydrate source, they help to fuel all reactions in the body which you need for movement, thinking, digestion and cellular renewal.

VITAMIN BOOSTER

Potatoes were eaten by 19th Century English and Spanish sailors to fend off scurvy. Surprisingly rich in immune-boosting Vitamin C, a medium potato (150g) with the skin provides 27mg, almost half of the recommended daily intake.

Potatoes are also a rich source of Vitamin B, folate and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and iron. Potatoes are underground tubers, meaning that they store all the vitamins and minerals needed for growing new potato plants in spring.

Rather than being bland and starchy, they're actually full of nutrients. 

Traditional Chinese Medicine uses a plant, Lycium chinense - which also contains kukoamines - as a tea to lower blood pressure.

While the precise quantity of potatoes you'd need to eat for a therapeutic effect has still to be measured, it is thought that a few good servings of potatoes a day would have some blood-pressure lowering activity.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

The Agricultural Research Service in Navarre, America, has identified 60 different kinds of phytochemicals and vitamins in potato skins.

Many of these were flavonoids, which help protect against cardiovascular-disease by lowering levels of bad LDL-cholesterol and keeping arteries fat-free.

The B vitamins in potatoes also protect arteries. Vitamin B6, found in potatoes, reduces levels of a molecule called homocysteine which is involved in inflammation and the furring up of arteries. High homocysteine levels are associated with a significantly increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

GUT HEALTH
A single baked potato will provide nearly 12 per cent of the daily recommended amount of fibre, giving similar levels to whole grain breads, pastas and cereals.

High levels of dietary fibre and 'bulking agents' support healthy digestion and regular bowel movements, while giving a protective effect from colon cancer.

While most potato fibre is found in the skin, some of the starch in potatoes is indigestible.

Instead it passes through the gut intact, adding bulk. If you suffer from sluggish bowel movements, eat cooked potatoes that have been cooled. The cooling process increases the amount of indigestible starch from seven per cent to 13 per cent.

 

STRESS

Potatoes are exceedingly rich in Vitamin B6, a substance needed for cellular renewal, a healthy nervous system and a balanced mood. Just  100g of baked potato contains 21 per cent of the daily value of the vitamin.

It is used to make neurotransmitters --substances that deliver messages from one cell to the next.

Neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine are needed for the regulation of mood and Vitamin B6 is needed to make them.

It is also used to make adrenaline, hormones that help us respond to stress, and GABA, a substance linked to relaxation and a feeling of wellbeing.

PICK YOUR POTATOES WISELY

Earlier this year, a new breed of potato - Vivaldi - was developed in Lincolnshire by the company Naturally Best and is now sold in Sainsbury's. The white and salad potatoes contain at least 26 per cent less carbohydrate and 33 per cent fewer calories than other varieties.

The health benefits do not impair the taste. Vivaldi has been dubbed the 'butterless baker' for its creamy texture and flavour, making it less likely you'll want to smother it in butter.

Floury potatoes can become light and fluffy when cooked and are high in starch.

They tend to have a high GI therefore, as starch has a profound effect on blood glucose levels. This can be lowered to a medium GI by mashing them and adding olive oil-based spread or skimmed milk.

Waxy potatoes, such as new potatoes like Charlotte and Nicola, are medium GI foods. They are high in moisture and sugar, but low in starch, hence they will have a more minor effect on blood sugar levels.

You can further combine new potatoes with salad oil or protein to balance out sugar levels as opposed to raising them.

 

DON'T PASS ON THE POTATOES

Potatoes are typically loaded with calorie-laden fats such as butter, sour cream and melted cheese.

Cut out the extra fat and deep frying, and a typical baked potato suddenly becomes a healthy high-fibre food.

'Use fillings such as coleslaw, tuna or hummus, or an olive oil spread that contains less saturated fat,' says Amanda Jennings of Bristol's Vitality Centre.

'Adding protein such as tuna or hummus, made from chickpeas, will mean the carbohydrate in the potato is broken down more slowly, making you feel fuller and energised for a longer period of time.'

Potato skins contain fibre and flavonoids and other nutrients, so keeping them on if you boil or mash potatoes will give extra nutrition. As Vitamin C leaches into water, bake your potatoes if you want to get the most of this vitamin.

Chips that have been cooked in deep-fried oil will be soaked in artery-clogging fat and packed full of unhealthy calories. Instead, eat oven-baked chips, which are virtually fat free.

 

 

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age.

 

 

 

Name: Xu Yuzhi (徐玉芝)
Gender: Female
Age: 56
Address: Suburban Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Death: July 25, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 28, 2006
Most recent place of detention: Jiamusi City Forced Labor Camp (佳木斯劳教所)
City: Jiamusi
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Keywords: Forced Labor

(Clearwisdom.net) (Correspondent from Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province) Ms. Xu began cultivating Falun Gong in 2003, and her severe heart disease was gone soon after. Because she persisted in clarifying the truth to people, the police arrested her in September 2006 from her home and sent her to forced labor for one year. Her heart disease recurred during detention, and Ms. Xu died on the early morning of July 25, 2009.

Ms. Xu Yuzhi

Ms. Xu used to have severe heart disease and very poor health. In order to cure her sickness, she started learning Falun Gong at the end of June 1999. Only 28 days after, the persecution began. Under the huge pressure, Ms. Xu stopped cultivation since her understanding was very unclear. Once, she almost died due to her sickness. Later, through learning more and more of the truth, she understood that Falun Gong teaches people to be good and benefits people world-wide, so she restarted cultivating Falun Gong in 2003. Soon, her disease disappeared and she was able to do household chores and take care of her grandchild.

The fundamental changes to Ms. Xu's mind and body validated the magnificence of Falun Gong to the people around her. She kept clarifying the facts to people despite being amidst the CCP's environment of terror. All she wanted was for people to not be deceived by the evil party lies and to benefit from this practice.

At around 5 p.m. on September 28, 2006, Ms. Xu Yuzhi was cooking at home when five or six officers from the Xiangyang Police Department led by Zhang Donghui stormed into her home, ransacked the place, took her Falun Dafa books, and arrested her. The police also took her daughter and four-year-old grandson into custody.

Ms. Xu told them kindly about how she formerly had heart disease, and she could not move or take care of herself. She said that the doctors told her that her only cure might be a heart transplant, but she did not have any money. But soon after cultivating Falun Dafa, she could do laundry, cook, clean house, and take care of her grandson. However, these officers refused to listen to her testimony, forcibly took her for a checkup in the Jiamusi City Women's and Children Hospital, then detained her in the Jiamusi City Detention Center. Two days later, she was taken to the Jiamusi City Forced Labor Camp.

Ms. Xu could not take care of herself while detained in the Jiamusi City Forced Labor Camp. She became bedridden, her eyes developed a white film, and she became emaciated. The Camp administration refused to release her even though she was dying.

The food in the detention center was very bad, and the food in the camp was moldy, tasted bitter, and caused the inmates to have diarrhea. Ms. Xu's family endured huge mental pressure during her one-year forced labor term. The police tried to extort a huge sum of money from her family, and threatened that otherwise they would not release her. Ms. Xu's heart disease worsened, and her whole body was swollen. She died a painful death on July 25, 2009.

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

By Liz Thomas

Almost half of over-65s believe television has deteriorated in the past five years because of bad language, violence and the soaring number of repeats.

Research by media regulator Ofcom found that 46 per cent of older viewers think that content quality and the range of programmes that channels offer has worsened.

At the same time, more than a fifth of pensioners claimed that falling standards were the result of broadcasters screening more violence and bad language in their shows.

And of the 2,000 over-65s surveyed, the majority - 62 per cent - cited the steady rise in the number of repeats being screened on mainstream TV as a key reason for their frustration.

Last year, the five main channels broadcast 33,165 hours of original programming - a fall of 3 per cent from 2007 and a slump of 5.6 per cent from 2003.

Last year, BBC director-general Mark Thompson warned viewers that the need to cut costs would see a greater number of repeats across the corporation's channels.

Nearly 10 per cent of BBC1 shows and more than 30 per cent of BBC2 programmes are now repeats.

Last month, ITV recorded the lowest ratings in its history, with just 16 per cent of viewers tuning in. Experts blamed the fall on the broadcaster's mix of repeats and its growing reliance on reality shows.

ITV, which reported record losses of £2.73billion earlier this year, has already admitted it has increased the number of repeats it airs in order to save cash.

It plans to slash its programmes budget by £135million between now and the end of 2011, make fewer new shows and has said it will 'opt for cheaper programming'.

Old episodes of hit dramas such as Midsomer Murders and A Touch Of Frost are being replayed to fill airtime. New episodes of Heartbeat, The Royal, and Wire in the Blood have all been axed, alongside a planned lavish adaptation of EM Forster's novel, A Passage To India.

In the past year, complaints about bad language and violence have also soared, reflecting viewers' frustration with modern programming.

In its annual report, released earlier this month, the BBC admitted that complaints have doubled in the past year to more than 260,000. It is now planning a crackdown on swearing after the 9pm watershed.

The corporation saw 45,000 Britons voice their anger over the Sachsgate affair, in which Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand made obscene phone calls to 72-year- old actor Andrew Sachs, and then broadcast the messages on Brand's Radio 2 show.

Many also rang in following the furore over the BBC's decision not to screen a charity appeal for Gaza. 

At the same time, there has been a stark increase in the number of complaints made about taste and decency on BBC shows.

Its flagship drama EastEnders was one of the most complained about programmes, after it screened scenes showing someone being drugged and buried alive, a boy of 13 being knifed by a gang and a gay kiss - all before the watershed.

There have also been complaints about comments and jokes made by highly paid stars such as Chris Moyles and John Barrowman.

On Channel 4, foul-mouthed chef Gordon Ramsay fell foul of Ofcom after his two-hour show Ramsay's Great British Nightmare saw him swear 115 times in the first 40 minutes.

Despite his reputation for bad language, scores of viewers were amazed the programme had been broadcast uncut and made formal complaints.

John Beyer, director of lobby group Media Watch, said: 'Ofcom's findings show how strongly people feel about issues of taste, harm and offence.

'Over the past few years we have seen TV audiences increasingly state their dissatisfaction with the broadcast output - and it seems no one is doing anything about it.

'I am calling on Ofcom to take seriously their own research and the complaints, and show they are listening to viewers' concerns.'

 

By a correspondent from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Name: He Zhi (何智)
Gender: Male
Age: 48
Address: Baise City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Occupation: Computer Science Teacher in Baise City Third High School
Date of Death: April 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 2, 2004
Most recent place of detention: Guangxi Regional Prison in Litang Town, Binyang County, Nanning City (广西黎塘监狱)
City: Nanning
Province: Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Persecution Keywords: Torture

(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. He Zhi, a Falun Gong practitioner died while in custody in April 2009. His wife was threatened, and she does not dare to live at home or speak about her husband's death.

At midnight on August 2, 2004, more than one dozen officers arrested Mr. He at his home and confiscated his two computers along with truth clarifying CDs. His wife was working the night shift, and their ten year old daughter was left alone at home. The police detained Mr. He in the Youjiang District Detention Center. At the beginning of 2005, the Youjinag District Court sentenced him to eight years in prison.

At the beginning of April 2009, Mr. He died in Litang Prison. A source said his death was very tragic. His wife went to his funeral at the prison and was severely threatened. When she returned home, she did not dare to live in her home or speak about her husband's death. She keeps silent, and Mr. He's parents still do not know about his death.

There are many practitioners still detained in Litang Prison, and some of them have been there eight or nine years. They must have endured numerous tortures based on how emaciated they are and how weak their voices are. The details of how Mr. He died and how practitioners are being brutally mistreated are yet to be revealed.

We call on all practitioners' families and people around the world who believe in justice to please pay attention to Falun Gong practitioners who are still detained in Litang Prison.

 

http://smoter.com/flooddam/swastika.htm

by Walter Smoter Frank

Local lore has it that W.W.II  German POWs were responsible  for incorporating the swastika within the structures while helping renovate the dam and bridge during WWII. Although there was a German POW camp in the nearby Yuma AZ area during that period, the swastikas were not put there by German prisoners. They were put there by the United States Government.

In 1903 the United States Department of Interior, through the Bureau of Reclamation (then called the U.S. Reclamation Service), recommended that a dam be constructed across the Colorado River between CA and AZ above Yuma. It would be the main feature of an irrigation system meant to divert water to the arid land below the dam on either side of the river.

After months of studies, construction of the dam was authorized by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior on May 10, 1904. A contract was let to a private firm on July 6, 1905 and construction began two weeks later.

Because of cost overruns, on Jan 23, 1907 the "work was assumed by the government and carried to completion on March 20, 1909 by force account under the immediate supervision of the engineers of the Reclamation Service."¹

The following year, water diverted by the Laguna Diversion Dam ( as the dam was officially called) was irrigating thousands of acres of AZ, CA and Indian reservation farmland. Laguna Dam was the first dam constructed by the U.S. government across the Colorado River.

Each of the masonry piers between the flashboards on the AZ side of the dam is topped with a swastika. The concrete at these points is recessed one inch deep by twelve inches square and holds a nine inch swastika which is recessed an additional inch and a half into the concrete.

At the center of the arch, on both sides of the bridge, are the initials USRS (United States Reclamation Service). Fanning out from the initials on either side are ten swastikas, the last of which is eighteen inches square. As with the swastikas on the turnouts they are also recessed into the concrete in a similar manner

Today, those who visit the sight and notice the swastikas will come away amused, bewildered or appalled. When the Laguna Dam swastikas were set in concrete, however, no one raised so much as an eyebrow. The swastika, at that time (before Hitler and the Nazis gave it its present reputation), did not have the dark notoriety it has today.

In ancient times the swastika was common in both the old and new worlds. With the ends of its crossbars bent to the right, as on Laguna Dam, the swastika was a symbol of the sun, fire and lighting for peoples from Scandinavia to India and on to China.

In German mythology the swastika (usually represented in rotary fashion) was the fire whisk that twirled the earth into existence. To Buddhists it represented resignation or the wheel of the law. Later it came to symbolize life or good luck around the world. It decorated the shields of Crusaders in the middle ages and even today can be found over the doorways of public houses in Korea.

Swastikas have also been found in the monumental remains of ancient Americans, including objects taken from old burial mounds within the United States.  Similar art is also known to have been used by various Indian tribes up to the present century.

 Because of the American Indians use of the swastika, some people believe that the swastikas were placed on Laguna Dan as a tribute to Indians. However, in 1908 (when the swastikas were set in place on Laguna Dam) Geronimo was still alive and the last major "battle" of the Indian Wars had taken place a little over a decade before. In 1908 the feeling of the U.S. government (and the majority of the American people) was anything but conciliatory toward Indians. This rumor understandingly originated because Laguna Dam is known as an "Indian weir dam," but the name has nothing to do with American Indians.

Nowhere in the United States did such a dam exist. Government engineers were forced to look overseas for safe examples. They finally found the type of dam they were looking for on the Jumna River in northern India. Laguna Dam is called an "Indian weir dam" because of its origin.

While in India, U.S. government representatives also picked up the story of the ancient Hindu God Indra, who at one time, represented thunder, lighting and rain. Indra (who had four arms and was represented by the swastika with its four arms) had the power to control water. There were those in the U.S. government who thought the swastika would be a fitting symbol for the U.S. Reclamation Service.³  During its early years the United States Bureau of Reclamation used the swastika for its symbol. The swastikas on Laguna Dam are a legacy of that period.

The Service also designed a Reclamation flag with a large swastika at its center with the U S R S letters in the four corners.⁴  It is not known how long the swastika was used by the Service, if any other structures ever exhibited the symbol or when the Reclamation Service dropped the Symbol. When impassioned citizens, however, attempted to destroy the swastikas on Laguna Dam during WWII (see “BridgeCloseUp” photo above) guards were posted around the clock to protect the site.⁵  Laguna Dam is the only government project left standing in the United States where swastikas are an integrated part of the structure.

(One can travel Laguna Dam Road (five miles east of Yuma AZ on route 95) and follow it (eight miles) to where the county pavement ends. A few hundred yards along a continuing graveled road, one will see the large abandoned gate described and pictured in this article. A hundred and fifty yards further along rests the bridge. Because of its proximity to the road many people have seen the swastikas on the bridge, but few are aware of the swastikas on the turnouts. To view them one must cross the bridge and follow the old concrete sluiceway down to the large gate and view them from the NW

(wikipedia)

George Washington Carver (January 1864 – January 5, 1943), was an American scientist, botanist, educator and inventor whose studies and teaching revolutionized agriculture in the Southern United States. The day and year of his birth are unknown; he is believed to have been born before slavery was abolished in Missouri in January 1864.

Much of Carver's fame is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life. The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes that used peanuts. He also created or disseminated about 100 products made from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, and nitroglycerin.

In the Reconstruction South, an agricultural monoculture of cotton depleted the soil, and in the early 20th century the boll weevil destroyed much of the cotton crop. Carver's work on peanuts was intended to provide an alternative crop.

In addition to his work on agricultural extension education for purposes of advocacy of sustainable agriculture and appreciation of plants and nature, Carver's important accomplishments also included improvement of racial relations, mentoring children, poetry, painting, and religion. He served as an example of the importance of hard work, a positive attitude, and a good education. His humility, humanitarianism, good nature, frugality, and rejection of economic materialism also have been admired widely.

One of his most important roles was in undermining, through the fame of his achievements and many talents, the widespread stereotype of the time that the black race was intellectually inferior to the white race. In 1941, Time magazine dubbed him a "Black Leonardo", a reference to the white polymath Leonardo da Vinci. To commemorate his life and inventions, George Washington Carver Recognition Day is celebrated on January 5, the anniversary of Carver's death.

Rise to fame

Carver had an interest in helping poor Southern farmers who were working low-quality soils that had been depleted of nutrients by repeated plantings of cotton crops. He and other agricultural cognoscenti urged farmers to restore nitrogen to their soils by practicing systematic crop rotation, alternating cotton crops with plantings of sweet potatoes or legumes (such as peanuts, soybeans and cowpeas) that were also sources of protein. Following the crop rotation practice resulted in improved cotton yields and gave farmers new foods and alternative cash crops.

Much of Carver's fame is related to the hundreds of plant products he popularized. After Carver's death, lists were created of the plant products Carver compiled or originated. Such lists enumerate about 300 applications for peanuts and 118 for sweet potatoes, although 73 of the 118 were dyes. He made similar investigations into uses for cowpeas, soybeans, and pecans. Carver did not write down formulas for most of his novel plant products so they could not be made by others.

In 1937, Carver attended two chemurgy conferences. He met Henry Ford at the Dearborn, Michigan, conference, and they became close friends. Also in 1937, Carver's health declined. Time magazine reported in 1941 that Henry Ford installed an elevator for Carver because his doctor told him not to climb the 19 stairs to his room. In 1942, the two men denied that they were working together on a solution to the wartime rubber shortage. Carver also did work with soy, which he and Ford considered as an alternative fuel.

Faith

Dr. Carver viewed faith in Jesus as a means to destroying both barriers of racial disharmony and social stratification. He taught his students that knowledge of God through the Bible and devotion to Jesus were paramount over what he could teach them pedagogically through numbers and formulas. He was as concerned with his students' character development as he was with their intellectual development. He even compiled a list of eight cardinal virtues for his students to emulate and strive toward:

• Be clean both inside and out.
• Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
• Lose, if need be, without squealing.
• Win without bragging.
• Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
• Be too brave to lie.
• Be too generous to cheat.
• Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.

Carver also led a Bible class on Sundays while at Tuskegee, beginning in 1906, for several students at their request. In this class he would regularly tell the stories from the Bible by acting them out. Unconventional in respect to both his scientific method and his ambition as a teacher, he inspired as much criticism as he did praise. Dr. Carver expressed this sentiment in response to this phenomenon: "When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."

Death

Upon returning home one day, Carver took a bad fall down a flight of stairs; he was found unconscious by a maid who took him to a hospital. Carver died January 5, 1943, at the age of 78 from complications (anemia) resulting from this fall. He was buried next to Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee University. Due to his frugality, Carver's life savings totaled $60,000, all of which he donated in his last years and at his death to the Carver Museum and to the George Washington Carver Foundation.

On his grave was written, He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk

Ben Webster, Environment Editor, and Hannah Devlin

 

By a Minghui/Clearwisdom correspondent in Hebei Province

(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Wang Jianhua, a Falun Gong practitioner from Gaomeng Village, Beishijiawu Town, Langfang City, Hebei Province, died on June 27, 2009 at the age of 50. She had endured repeated mistreatment under persecution by the Communist Party regime. It finally destroyed her health and she succumbed on June 27, 2009.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Jianhua

Before Ms. Wang became a Falun Gong practitioner, she suffered from many physical illnesses including uremia, and was also extremely quick tempered. After taking up the practice, she became an industrious practitioner, diligently striving to be a person who displayed Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Her health improved and she became a gentle person. Many of her relatives and friends witnessed her change and followed her path to become practitioners themselves.

Yet in 1999 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its cruel campaign to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. As Ms. Wang personally experienced the benefits and the beauty of Dafa, she could not understand why the CCP would persecute Falun Dafa practitioners. She could not understand what crime it was for practitioners to cultivate and become selfless good people. However, television and newspapers were reporting stories about "self immolation," and "murders" carried out by practitioners. Ms. Wang knew that those were fabricated lies. Therefore, she decided to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa in September 1999. While appealing in Beijing, Ms. Wang was arrested and illegally detained for one month.

For many years, the local police frequently harassed Wang Jianhua's family. In March 2000, Wang Jiianyong, the chief of Beishijiawu Town Police Station in Langfang City, along with police officers Chang Xuesong, Liu Weihua, and Yang Baoyin, the chair of the general office, went to Ms. Wang's house many time to harass her. Once, they took her husband away when she was not home and extorted 3,000 yuan from him.

In January 2006, police from the Anci District Security Office in Langfang City arrested Ms. Wang when she went to the office calling for the release of a fellow practitioner who was illegally detained. Ms. Wang was then transferred to Tangshan Forced Labor Camp after her arrest. The Camp declined to admit her because she had high blood pressure. A few days later, officers from the Langfang City 610 Office took Ms. Wang to Baoding City Forced Labor Camp. Again, she was not admitted due to her high blood pressure. However, they admitted her after bribes were offered to the camp personnel by the 610 Office and the Beishiwu Town Police Station.

The guards in the forced labor camp tortured steadfast Falun Gong practitioners in every possible way, with sleep deprivation, corporal punishment, and forced labor including heavy physical labor. Soon, Ms. Wang lost the ability to care for herself and her blood pressure shot up as high as 256. A week later, she was taken to Baoding City Hospital, where she was injected with unknown drugs. The forced labor camp was afraid of taking responsibility for Ms. Wang's condition, so she was sent back home due to "medical reasons".

At home, Ms. Wang's health improved after she resumed practicing Falun Gong and she was able to once again take care of herself. However, police from the Langfang City 610 Office and the Beishiwu Town Police Station continuously came to her home to harass her.

The harassment got especially severe before the 2008 Olympics. The Langfang City 610 Office instructed police officers Liu Wei and Dong Hui, led by Chen Fuqiang, director of village security, to break into Ms. Wang's home. They took away many of her personal belongings and her computer, and extorted 3,000 yuan.

Wang Jianhua was often harassed and threatened at home by police on days the Communist Party designated as a sensitive date. It brought about tremendous pressure and harm to Ms. Wang and her family, and severely disrupted their normal family life. Under this kind of harassment and serious emotional stress, Ms. Wang's health, which was severely weakened during her detention in the forced labor camp, took an unexpected turn for the worse in June 2009. She went into a coma and the hospital was unable to help her. She died in the hospital on June 27, 2009.

Ms. Wang was a gentle, ordinary farmer who learned Falun Dafa and benefited immensely from the practice. Yet she lost her life because of the past 10 years of cruel persecution imposed by the CCP.

 

 

Denis Campbell, health correspondent

 

  (Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Song Bing, 37, graduated from the Changchun Postal Institute, majoring in stored program control switching. She worked for a privately-owned computer company after college, and she was later employed by the Shulan City Telecommunications Company. She had suffered from a bone marrow disease and underwent a serious operation which almost took her life or caused her to become permanently disabled. She began practicing Falun Gong in 1997, and all her ailments disappeared.

In September 1999, Ms. Song Bing and her older sister Ms. Song Yanqun were each sentenced to one year of forced labor, and their terms were extended. Ms. Song Bing's term was extended six months, and she was released in April 2001. Both sisters were very weak upon returning home and had lost their jobs; they were then both arrested again by the Shulan City police.

Sisters Cruelly Tortured

At around 7 p.m. on November 27, 2003, officer Guo Gang led a group to storm into Ms. Song Bing and her sister's home. They grabbed Ms. Song Bing's hair, twisted her arms backward, and gagged her. They sealed the sisters' mouths with tape, covered their heads with cloth, handcuffed them, and then carried them into a vehicle. Guo Wei conducted a body search at the Jiekuang Police Station in Shulan City, interrogated the sisters overnight in the Shulan City Police Department, and detained them in the Nanshan Detention Center.

Demonstration of the Torture Suffered by Ms. Song

One arm up, one arm down, cuffed back	Mustard oil poured into nose

Using a stick to poke the sensitive spots on her face, including her ears and nose

The next afternoon, officers took the sisters to a place outside the detention center. Upon arrival, these officers fixed them onto chairs so that they could not move. They tried to threaten Ms. Song Bing into giving false statements. Li Jiazhe and two other men twisted her arms backward, one arm from the top of her shoulder, the other from her lower back, and then handcuffed them together. They tied a hand towel to the handcuffs and used one end to press her upper arm down, and the other to pull her lower arm up. Ms. Song Bing refused to talk to them. Then one officer held the towel while the other one prodded her ears and nose with a stick. They saw that this torture still would not make her speak, so they then grabbed a bottle of mustard oil extract. One officer stood behind her and pulled her head backward, while the other man covered her mouth with another towel. This forced her to breathe through her nose, and as soon as she did, they poured mustard oil into her nose.

The mustard oil got into her windpipe, which made her lungs feel an explosion of pain. These killers still pressed the bottle to the top of her nose, causing Ms. Song to cough and vomit violently, spraying mustard oil all over the place. They then pinched her nose and tried to pour mustard oil into her mouth. She naturally spit the old oil out, and the officers got the oil all over her face, which hurt her eyes. The officers took turns pouring more bottles of mustard oil into her mouth and nose, choking her many times until she nearly passed out.

Sentencing Based on Fabricated Evidence

The Procuratorate rejected the initial set of evidence provided by the police, but these officers fabricated more materials, which resulted in the two sisters being put on trial. The prosecuting statements were groundless. Ms. Song Bing exposed how Li Jiazhe had tortured her during the interrogation. However, these officers made up a statement about how they found 30,000 pieces of Falun Gong literature at Ms. Song's home, and had her sentenced to 14 years in prison and her older sister Ms. Song Yanqun to a 12-year term.

Refusing to Release a Dying Ms. Song

On May 25, 2004, Ms. Song Bing and her sister Ms. Song Yanqun were both taken to Tiebei Prison in Changchun City. Ms. Song Bing was found to have tuberculosis, and she was rejected by the prison. The detention center had her checked again in June 2004 and reported her condition to the court, and her case was dismissed. She should have been released at this point, but Shulan City Police Department Deputy Director Xin He refused to approve her release.

In July 2004, the detention center had her checked into the Jilin City Central Hospital. Her condition had seriously worsened, and the CT scan found a two-inch by three-inch hole in her lung. She was very weak and had a fever, cough, shortness of breath, no appetite, and partial heart failure. The police still did not allow her to go home. By the end of July, she was dying. Her parents requested her release many times, but the Shulan City Police Department Deputy Director Xin He said that he would lose his job if he agreed to release Ms. Song. The CCP Shulan City Political and Judiciary Committee Secretary Zhao Wei said that he was not allowed to talk about the law because he refused to follow it when it came to Falun Gong matters. The Shulan City 610 Office Chairman Li Pu said that he would rather be responsible for her life than for releasing Ms. Song.

On September 4, 2004, when she was close to death, Ms. Song was finally allowed to "serve her term outside the prison." Shulan City Detention Center Director Zhuang Runjiang extorted 3,000 yuan from her parents to secure her release. Upon returning home, Ms. Song gradually began studying the Fa and doing the Falun Gong exercises, and her condition became better. However, police were watching her closely, and they tried to arrest her as soon as she regained her health. Ms. Song had to leave her home to avoid being arrested.

Ms. Song's health never recovered, and she died on July 30, 2009.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

 

Fatty acids found in fish oils can help protect against heart attacks should be taken daily by everyone, according to doctors who say there is now "compelling" evidence of their benefits.

 

(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Chen Xuzhong and I am 38 years old. I have benefited tremendously ever since I took up Falun Gong practice.

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its persecution of Falun Gong in 1999 I was arrested numerous times and sent to forced labor twice. I was a captive and lost my personal freedom for a total of five years during the past ten years. Below I detail the incidents I had to deal with under the persecution.

1. Arrested by National Security Officers; Funds Extorted

A group of six practitioners, including me, were watching one of Master's lecture videos at a fellow practitioner's home on January 23, 2000. The practitioner's colleague from his workplace reported us to the authorities. Xu Bin and a few other agents from Jinchang City National Security Bureau arrived and arrested us. Pretending to be water company employees, they deceived us into opening the door. They confiscated all the Falun Gong books and truth clarification materials in the home before taking the six of us to the police department, where they subjected each of us a 15-day "administrative detention" term and took us to the city jail to serve our time. Our families arrived on the fifteenth day to pick us up. The guards ordered them to persuade us to write guarantee statements. Seeing that none of us wrote such statements, and fearing that we might go to Beijing to appeal, the guards decided not to release us, but instead sent us straight to the city detention center.

As soon as we arrived, we were strip-searched. Our captors confiscated several copies of Master's articles that I had with me. The guards instructed my cell mates to beat me badly and to exert every effort to prevent me from practicing the Falun Gong exercises. About 20 days later someone from my employer, the Jinchang Electricity Bureau, arrived to process the paperwork for me as "awaiting trial at home upon payment of bail." The guards set the bail amount at 2,000 yuan (see below for receipt) and forced me to write a guarantee statement before finally releasing me.

Preceipt of bail money

2. Remaining Destitute to Avoid Arrest

I went to see another practitioner on September 4, 2001. A plainclothes policewoman followed and then captured me. Being put in handcuffs and kept in Xincun Police Station for a night, I managed to loosen the handcuffs and escape at noon the next day. That afternoon, Wang Yongcheng and Wei Fulin from the Xincun Police Station went to my home to look for me. To avoid arrest I went to Lanzhou City, where my newly-wed wife of two months later found me. The two of us wandered around in Lanzhou for two weeks before returning home. Local police station agents pressured me to write a guarantee statement and had me pay a so-called "administrative fine" before allowing my employer to let me resume work.

3. First Incarceration at Gansu First Forced Labor Camp

Peng Weiping, Yongchang County Police Department Political Head, and Li Guoyu, Yongchang County Police Department Political and Security Section head, and their accomplices went to my workplace on March 24, 2002, to find me. Without producing any warrants, they turned my office upside down. Unable to find anything they wanted, they ordered me to the police department "for a talk." I went with them, only to find it was a deception to get me there. They later subjected me to three years of forced labor.

After arriving at the police department, the officers filled out the "notice of summons," began to interrogate me, and took me to the county detention center, where I was kept for 52 days. The police held a so-called "public arrest meeting" in the county stadium on May 14, 2002. More than 20 Falun Gong practitioners, including myself, were made to wear signs bearing slanderous words around our necks. The stadium was packed. The police announced our arrests and terms of forced labor. Then the police paraded us on the street. Thirteen practitioners and I were sent to the Gansu First Detention Center after the humiliating parade. I was given a three-year term of forced labor.

"Notice of Summons," which wasn't filled out until after Chen Xuzhong's arrest

Labor notice

I was detained in Division Five at the labor camp. The guards body-searched me and checked my luggage as soon as I arrived. They made two "monitors" (drug addicts assigned to keep close watch on practitioners) keep me under 24-hour surveillance, forbidding me to speak with anyone. Political head Li Zhengang and cell head Ma Jinzhou gave orders to deprive me of sleep for four straight days and made me stand for long periods of time each day, beginning in the evening. After midnight I was so fatigued that I couldn't help but sway from side to side. As soon as I closed my eyes, the two "monitors" poked me hard to wake me up. I managed to stay awake till dawn, only to find that I had to do hard labor during the day. No nap was allowed at noon. Then evening came, and I had to stand again. After several days of this I became extremely fatigued and was disoriented at times. The two "monitors" said they had learned this tactic from the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, where practitioners were tormented until they bent and gave up their belief.

Camp officials intensified their abuse and gross mistreatment of practitioners in May 2003. Division head Li Wenhui made me do the heaviest job--pulling carts loaded with bricks. At night I wasn't allowed to sleep. This torment lasted for four days.

Between 2002 and 2003, slogans in large print were seen everywhere on the labor camp's red walls; many detainees were ordered to wear a green military uniform. Such an isolated environment made me feel we had been cut off from the rest of the world.

Living conditions were extremely poor. Each cell held about 20 people, yet only one bucket of water per day was rationed. We would be lucky if we could bathe once a month. The workload was excessive, without breaks during the day. We often couldn't even straighten our backs by the end of the day. We had to go out at 6:30 a.m. during the busy farming season and didn't return until 9:00 p.m., working 13-14 hours straight. Our clothes were soaked in sweat, which dried as salt crystals. After a long day of wielding shovels, our knuckles swelled and hurt. We couldn't even straighten our fingers when we rose in the morning. The farm work included raising corn and other vegetables, weeding and plowing. The guards ordered us to work fast, without a break.

For construction work we had to carry bags of concrete and sand, dig ditches, plant trees, and pull carts loaded with bricks. Many migrant workers didn't want to do these jobs, even for pay. But the guards forced practitioners to do the labor-intensive work to make money for them. Digging ditches that were deeper than one person made us exhausted and dizzy by the end of the day. We had to walk long distances when pulling carts loaded with bricks, resulting in leg cramps and blisters on our feet.

In March 2004 camp officials gathered all the detained practitioners into Team 16, Division Six, and dubbed the team "The Falun Gong Special Management Team." When team leaders ordered practitioners in May to write the "three statements" I firmly refused. Deputy division head Wang Xuxing then urged detainee Hou Jun to punish me. I was forced to walk in a military pose during the day and stand for long periods at night. Around midnight, team head Bian Yunsheng took me to his office, where he handcuffed me behind my back and hung me up by the handcuffs to the metal window bar, with my feet barely touching the ground. All my weight was concentrated on my wrists, causing excruciating pain. My hair was soon soaked in sweat, and my arms lost sensation. When I was let down the next morning, my arms felt as if they were not mine. The handcuffs left bloody marks on the backs of my hands and didn't disappear until more than a year later. The piercing pain felt at my fingertips and the numbness in my fingers didn't improve until six months later.

Since I still refused to give up my belief, even after that one-night ordeal, Li Wenhui put me in a confined cell, where he deprived me of sleep for six nights. Moreover, he twisted my hands behind my back and handcuffed them to the heating pipe in such a position that I could neither squat, nor stand for a night and half a day. One of my legs soon became numb, and I was in great pain. I had to put my weight on the other leg. Not long after, both legs went numb. This torture was even more painful than a beating. The guards often used such despicable means to mistreat practitioners.

My wife couldn't bear the pressure of my being detained for the three years and divorced me.

4. Second Incarceration at Gansu First Labor Camp

After I was released from the labor camp in March 2005, my employer treated me unfairly. I was paid a monthly stipend of only 500 yuan for the first year of my return. Local police station personnel created a special "target person profile" of me, and ordered me to sign a document every three months.

Yongchang County Police Department Political head Peng Weiping, Li Guoyu from the Domestic Security Division, and local police officer Zhao Jixiang came to my workplace on August 1, 2006, and took me with them to ransack my home. They confiscated the laptop my employer had supplied and kept me at my home.

I had returned home from outside on August 3, 2006, at around 10:00 p.m., when Zhao Jixiang and a few other policemen followed and arrested me. They took me to the county police department, where Li Guoyu and Chai Zhongxi from the Domestic Security Division interrogated me and attempted to extort a confession from me. I was transferred to the county detention center very early the next day.

The police interrogated me a few more times afterwards. I simply refused to cooperate with them. Without evidence, the prosecutor refused to issue an arrest warrant. Detention center officials had no other option but to issue the release warrant on August 17, 2008, but Domestic Security agents didn't release me until 20 days later.

To extort a confession from me, the detention center guards often incited other detainees to beat me savagely. During my 35 days of detention, I had to daily paste labels on matchboxes from dawn to dusk. A seemingly easy job, this task was daunting and exhausting because of the huge quota of 10,000-15,000 matchboxes per day. If I couldn't finish this quota, I had to stay up to get it done. Not long after, my fingernails came loose, and my fingertips bled.

The police transferred me and another practitioner to a different detention facility on September 9, 2006. Three days later, Jinchang Forced Labor Committee agents put me on "trial." This committee was actually the Jinchang Police Department's Legal Section. The police arrested practitioners and then decided themselves what to charge the practitioners with. At the end of the trial the committee decided that I should serve time outside the labor camp; however, the same committee "tried" me for a second time on the 28^th and handed me a two-year forced labor term.

Practitioners Li Yuanji and Qi Manjun were given a forced labor term at the same time.

I was sent to the Gansu First Forced Labor Camp for the second time on October 12, 2006. Because I refused to cooperate, the guards put me in a confined cell for nine days in early November. I was deprived of sleep and had to participate in brainwashing sessions. Political Head Li Wenhui, badge number is 6222238, was the one responsible.

Monitor Zhang Hongniu (a detainee charged with theft) reported me to the guards in May 2007. As a result, I was forced to stand long periods every night for a whole week. The guards didn't let me sleep until after one o'clock in the morning. Two other practitioners, Li Yuanji and Cao Qiang, were also abused this way. Team head Han Ximing, badge number 6222219, was responsible.

Beginning in 2007, camp officials began a more "delicate and disguised" campaign against Falun Gong practitioners. The "new campaign" manifested in two ways:

First, there was less violence but more brainwashing. When no hard labor was scheduled, camp officials would arrange all kinds of seminars for us to watch videos and write our thoughts. Their intent was to instill CCP's lies in us and to slander Falun Gong. The camp held regular meetings at which practitioners were put under pressure and compelled to criticize Falun Gong and break with it. Fearing practitioners might declare their former statements denouncing Falun Gong null and void, camp officials had practitioners regularly write their thoughts. The camp kept newly arrived practitioners in an isolated place and intimidated them into writing all kinds of statements.

Second, superficially viewed, the camp appeared more civilized: no excessive hard labor and lessened beatings. Determined practitioners were still sent to confined cells, though. The guards covered the windows with paper and continued their torture of practitioners inside these cells. The "monitors" actively helped to wantonly abuse practitioners, including beating, brainwashing, and shocking with electric batons. When certain practitioners gave up their belief against their will, the guards and "monitors" would temporarily stop the torture, but once these practitioners declared they would resume their practice of Falun Gong, they were sent to confined cells and suffered again.

My two years of labor camp incarceration ended in August 2008. Following my release, officials at my workplace treated me unfairly and paid me only a monthly stipend of 600 yuan.

The above incidents are recollections of abuse and mistreatment I was compelled to endure over the past nine years.

Written on July 24, 2009